To use the topically appropriate set of metaphors: Wicked cast a spell on North American audiences over its opening weekend in theaters, pulling in $114 million to wipe the Colosseum floor with Gladiator II.
And first-look materials unveiled at Las Vegas’s Cinemacon in April effectively anointed Gladiator II as fall’s must-see movie: a stirring spectacle of man-eating monkeys, Denzel Washington speechifying and inner-Colosseum boat warfare, all but certain to become an awards-season front-runner.
So then how did the Ariana Grande–Cynthia Erivo musical two-hander fell Gladiator II in the arena while delivering the biggest-ever opening — both domestically and internationally — for a movie based on a Broadway show?
“I think it’s Wicked catching fire more than Gladiator II coming apart,” says movie analyst David A.
“Two strong films are jolting a box office that fell apart after a good summer,” Gross says.
To employ the topically relevant set of metaphors, Wicked captivated North American audiences during its first weekend of release, earning $114 million to buy Gladiator II a seat at the Colosseum. For a quarter-century-old piece of intellectual property, the swords-and-sandals sequel to Ridley Scott’s Best Picture-winning Gladiator (2000) brought in $55 and 5 million domestically. The film cost $250 million to produce and has already earned $220 million worldwide. Arriving at the end of a year where ticket sales are still down nearly 30% from where they were in 2019, it also signifies a sort of return to the days before COVID.
From a more limited perspective, however, the pre-Thanksgiving box office conflict between “Glicked” and “Wickiator” closely resembled an event film synergy initially observed with Barbenheimer in the summer of 2023. Both then and now, a bothersome but mildly humorous portmanteau that combined the names of the movies increased prerelease awareness and boosted ticket sales. Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan, and Barbie, starring Margot Robbie, both debuted at theaters on the same day, serving as promotional multipliers for each other. Additionally, viewers grouped together based on strict gender roles. This past weekend, women made up a full three-quarters of the audience attending the first showing of Universal’s phantasmagorical adaptation of the multibillion-dollar-grossing Broadway musical and prequel to the Wizard of Oz. But men showed up in droves to watch the R-rated carnage of sharks and rhinos in Gladiator.
David Herrin, founder of the movie tracking and data analytics company Quorum, observes that “the female film is the winner in both cases.”. And Barbie made $160 million, while Oppenheimer made $80 million. The female film also makes twice as much as the male-skewing one. “”.
Wicked’s crushing of Gladiator II was by no means inevitable, even with its lopsided victory in the $145 million frenemy-witch coming-of-age musical. In order to avoid direct competition with Disney’s animated blockbuster-in-the-making Moana 2, which opens this week and which prerelease “tracking” surveys suggested would have eaten into Wicked’s female and family ticket sales, Universal decided to move the film’s release date by five days in July, even though the films were not even supposed to compete head first. Furthermore, Hollywood’s record of investing funds and marketing resources in female-forward films is appalling. And thanks to first-look materials released at Cinemacon in Las Vegas in April, Gladiator II was essentially declared the fall movie of the year. It was a powerful display of man-eating monkeys, Denzel Washington’s speeches, and inner-Colosseum boat combat, and it was almost a lock to win an award. Deadline exclaimed as it left the convention, “Not only does Paramount have a Thanksgiving tentpole locked up here in the sequel to the 2000 Oscar-winning Best Picture, but — wow — they clearly have another awards contender on their hands.”. “.”.
With parts one and two costing approximately $500 million to produce and market, Universal made its largest upfront investment in a film project to date in order to achieve this goal. This turned Wicked into an event with over 400 corporate partners and countless branded tie-ins. The Great Value Wicked Color Macaroni and Cheese Cup, the Beis Carry-on Roller suitcase in Wicked Pink, the Tubbz First Edition Wicked Glinda Upland Cosplaying Rubber Duck Vinyl Figure, and the Build-a-Bear Workshops Teddy Bear Elphaba Gift Set are among the standouts. NBC, the studio’s corporate sister, featured a plethora of Wicked promotional content during its broadcasts of the Paris Olympic Games this summer. Examples included Erivo and Grande arriving at the opening ceremony arm in arm, dressed in Elphaba green and Glinda pink, mingling in the stands at events, and posing cinematically in front of the Eiffel Tower. The Today show featured extensive coverage of Wicked, including interviews with supporting cast members Bowen Yang and Ethan Slater and a lesson on “sing-along etiquette.”. Additionally, Grande and Erivo’s brand ambassadorship for the movie has taken them from the Oscars (where they presented Best Song and Score) in March to the Met Gala ball in May, as well as a number of Wicked premieres on both U.S. A. coasts, as well as in Mexico City, London, and Sydney.
“This campaign has been enormous in both scale and scope,” Herrin says. In my opinion, Universal’s approach is to invest as much money as possible and then add a little more on top. Exhibit A: The studio got the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to be illuminated in the film’s trademark pink and green colors earlier this month.
Barbenheimer has taught Hollywood that rival studios can compete for multiplex market share with high-budget event films without becoming inherently hostile. According to the industry watchers I spoke with, Glicked’s competition can only benefit the movie theater industry by encouraging moviegoers to return to the practice of sharing communal space in dimly lit auditoriums following a lackluster run of films in October and early November. Both films are effectively winners at the box office, and second place is a kind of home run. “A box office that collapsed following a successful summer is being shaken by two powerful films,” Gross claims. “Thanksgiving should set new records with the addition of Moana 2 next weekend.”. Everything is positive and long overdue for the sector. “.”.
